New
York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly Kings joined with Kings County
District Attorney Charles J. Hynes and New York City Fire Commissioner Salvatore
J. Cassano to announce the indictment of 18 members of the Latin Kings street
gang’s “Borough Park Homicide Squad” gang, or “set” – including its entire
leadership – on charges that they set fire to two Borough Park apartments, in an
attempt to kill a former gang member.

“These so-called ‘Latin Kings’ do not rule the streets of Brooklyn, but they may each find themselves reigning over
a small prison cell for the rest of their lives,” said District Attorney Hynes.
“I will not tolerate violent street gangs like this bunch trying to overrun our
neighborhoods. I would like to thank Commissioner Kelly and the NYPD, as well as
Commissioner Cassano and the FDNY for their work on this
investigation.”

“Cowards, not kings, more aptly describe those who firebomb apartments and run
away, putting innocent lives at risk. I want to commend the detectives, arson
investigators, and prosecutors who worked together to bring these gang members
to justice,” said Police Commissioner Kelly, praising the work of Police Officer
Derrick Golden, who led the NYPD investigation under Captain William Tobin,
Lieutenant Peter Carretta and Sergeant Craig Bier of the NYPD Brooklyn South
Gang Squad.

“I’m very proud of the work done by FDNY’s Bureau of Fire Investigation, led by
Chief Fire Marshal Robert Byrnes, in cooperation with the District Attorney and
the Police Department, to bring those responsible for these dangerous fires to
justice,” Fire Commissioner Cassano said. “Make no mistake: Fire is a deadly
weapon and the methods these gang members used, particularly on a home where
young children and an elderly woman lived, demonstrate how important it was to
get them off our city's streets.”

The
target of the arsons, Juan Kuang, 19, had been “stripped” of his Latin King
status, over disagreements with the Borough Park Homicide Squad’s leaders. In
retaliation, Kuang stabbed gang member Norman Vado, 21, the brother of the
gang’s leader, or “First Crown”, Roger Vado, 25, according to a separate
indictment. In that case, Kuang is charged with Attempted Murder in the Second
Degree.

Roger
Vado and the Borough Park Homicide Squad members are charged with setting the
fires in retaliation for Norman Vado’s
stabbing.

The
indictment charges the defendants with making Molotov cocktails by filling glass
iced-tea bottles with gasoline. On two separate occasions, the gang members
threw these Molotov cocktails at two different Borough Park homes, where they believed Kuang was
living at the time. One building, which was a multi-family unit where
young children and an elderly woman lived, was completely destroyed. The
other targeted building was an apartment complex, of which the exterior, rear
wall was scorched and damaged.

No one was injured in either
fire.

Five
gang members are charged with actually setting the fires, and the five “Crowns”
are charged with ordering the fires set. Those 10 are charged with Arson in the
First Degree, a Class A-1 Felony, with a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in
prison. All 18 defendants named in the indictment are charged with Conspiracy in
the Second Degree, a Class-B Felony, which carries a maximum sentence of 25
years in prison.

The
case was investigated by the NYPD Gang Division’s Brooklyn South Gang Squad and
the FDNY Bureau of Fire Investigation’s Citywide South/Special Investigations
Unit.